Friday Night Roleplayers have debuted Mythras Classic Fantasy, switching our play from Dungeons & Dragons. This post reflects on the experience, most of which was a learning game focused on the combat rules, from the perspective of the Game Master.

I’ve written at length about why I like Classic Fantasy done with Mythras. The trick has been to persuade my regular players to try the game too. After my apologia post, the chaps very generously agreed to try it, switching after the first adventure in my Mystamyr setting was played using D&D5e. The caveat was that the chaps wanted to port their existing heroes to the new game, a relatively simple feat but one which made me nervous.

Last Friday, having made my preparations and having worked with players to get all three heroes converted, we sat down to play.

“Goblins Are Attacking Brok’s Farm!”

The heroes were awoken by the sound of Woodfell’s bell ringing from the tower adjacent to the Inn of the Amber Stone. In the early light of the morning, Glar roused his companions and rushed to buckle on his armour. Evendur and Aoth too, donning their own respective kit, grabbed up weapons and listened to the shouts from the guard on the tower: “Goblins! Brok’s farm is under attack!”

The farmstead, one of two built outside the stockade around the village, sat to the north-west and was a good four or five minutes jog from the west gate. With two of the mercenary guards away, the village’s sergeant called for the heroes to help. Dutifully, Glar grabbed up his great sword and led the group out through the gate.

Approaching the farm, cutting north across the sheep field towards the figures assaulting the barn and house of Brok, there were signs that not all was as it at first seemed. The Goblins were slow and sluggish, with no apparent weapons and without shields. They stumbled and shambled as they walked. One was standing at the waist-high fence reaching towards the now running sheep, but not climbing it. Two more could be seen bashing on the barn door, while the shouts of Brok’s family could be heard from within. Coming closer, the heroes smelled the truth: these were Zombie Goblins!

Girding up their arms, the heroes moved to engage…

Fighting Zombies

We learned a lot from this encounter. It was designed to reveal two things:

1. That if you leave dead humanoids lying around in Mistamyr, they come back undead;
2. How combat works in Classic Fantasy.

Six Zombie Goblins (designed using the guidelines in Classic Fantasy) were potentially dangerous… but the heroes are made of stronger stuff.

Initially, the guys did find the “choose your action, then choose your movement rate, then move half your allowed move” thing slightly weird when compared to our recent experiences with Dungeons and Dragons (in which you can move whenever you like on your turn). Of course, in D&D, you don’t have Action Points and the opportunity to do more than one thing either.

After the first round or two, though, the chaps quickly settled into the cut and thrust of Mythras combat. As Game Master, I enjoyed how the story unfolded from the much more detailed action of the game – especially the way in which Special Effects drive the narrative.

I was reminded of my comments back when I started to trial Classic Fantasy:

“…you need to consider that the more detailed rules are going to slow play. If you want a quick and dirty game, stick to Dungeons & Dragons. If verisimilitude matters, this game offers a solution.”

Yes, each battle took longer to play. But everyone was engaged and the cut-and-thrust made the narrative come alive. For example, during this zombie fight, Glar the Hammer (a Fighter and sometime gladiator) got the first kill; it was no simple matter of “I roll, I hit, I do x damage”. Oh no… Glar stepped forward and engaged a zombie on the other side of the waist-high wooden fence. The beast reached for him, but Glar’s great sword held it at bay and unable to grasp at his face; then, with a single overhead swing, Glar brought the blade down upon the creature’s head, slashing deep into its brain and bringing it crumpling to the ground. Not a critical hit, no need for special powers – just a good old-fashioned strike and the application of the “choose location” special effect. Smoosh! The fact that I remember this single event comes from the vivid nature of the game.

We also tried out the Cleric’s power to Turn Undead. WOW! Evendur (the Cleric of Morwyn) had traded some blows with his quarterstaff, but then the player asked, “How does Turn Undead work?” We discovered that Evendur could affect undead within 80 feet. He rolled to Channel the energy of his deity against the Willpower of the zombies (a single roll against their best Willpower). When they failed, he rolled the Intensity of the effect – 2d6+2 in this case, doubled from 1d6+1 because of the special effect chosen – with each Zombie Goblin being 2 Intensity to turn. That pretty much ended the battle, although the chaps did let Glar chase the running zombies down and smoosh them too.

I was grinning at the end because the fight had gone well and the heroes really looked heroic! They had rescued Brok’s family and destroyed the zombies. On their return to town, as the players mused on where the zombies had come from, the locals commented:

“They probably came because some idiot killed a bunch of goblins and then didn’t bury the bodies. If you don’t burn the bodies around here, folk will rise within a day or so as undead. That’s why nobody really wants to live around these parts. But nobody knows why it happens.”

It was a joy to see the chaps realise that their recent trip to the Lost Tomb of the Dragon Knights might, just might, have led to a zombie attack on Woodfell.

Valen’s Job

Following their first adventure to the Lost Tomb, our heroes had recovered a magical sword – a Dragon Blade – and shield to go with it. Aoth (a half-elf Fighter/Thief Acrobat) had taken possession and brought them back to Woodfell.

Regular readers will recall that, on a whim, I had run a solo D&D game in which the characters Valen and Dorn had taken an interest in this little adventure. This led the pair back out to the area of the Lost Tomb, wherein they had their own adventure. This was, I might add, an adventure of which I have only shared the first two parts… and this is no accident.

Glar, Aoth, and Evendur returned from repelling the Goblin Zombies to be met by the other two travellers who they’d noticed return the night before. Introducing his friend Dorn, the young robed fellow going by the name of Valen asked the party if they would do a little “job” for him.

At length, Valen explained that he was on a quest to locate the fabled Fire Citadel of the Dragon Kings. He knew it was probably located near the great Fire Peak Mountain, clearly visible to the north-east, but he needed to find a true path through the Mystamyr Peaks. He told them how, returning to the tomb they had found, Valen had persuaded the Goblins to show them another tomb; entering, the pair had found Kobolds and had to fight but also uncovered a lost tome which was some kind of watch commander’s log for a place called Griffinwatch Tower.

The “job” was to find this lost Griffinwatch Tower. Valen, having spoken to a local falconer named Jarin, had determined that this might be the ruined fortifications that lay a few miles east of Woodfell off an ill-used track into the mountains. Would the heroes scout the location and bring back word of the road to the Fire Citadel, should they find it?

Valen offered some rations for two days and a little coin. He even offered a bounty on Goblin, Kobold, and Orc heads to entice the heroes to risk their necks. With a shrug, Glar said they’d do it… and off they went into the wilds.

Scouting Orc Tower

We narrated a short journey along the road east of Woodfell and then up a couple of miles into the mountains. The players rolled twice for Wandering Monsters, but nothing harassed them. At length, they arrived before the open plateau upon which stood the ruins they sought – the place the locals call, “Orc Tower”.

Approaching, Glar and Evendur ambled up the track way while Aoth crept closer to the stones of the first tower. The steep scree, rising some 15 feet above the surrounding ground, proved hard to scale silently and Aoth found himself twice sliding back down when he tried to climb it. The noise drew attention and soon, with an accompanying “hur hur hur” of laughter, arrows lanced out to drive Aoth away.

Meanwhile, approaching the western entrance of the tower up the track, Evendur engaged the Orc sentries in an attempt to seek shelter for the night. Although he assured them that they had thought the ruin was empty, the Orcs still told them to “Bugger off!” This annoyed Glar and, predictably enough, soon things devolved into the Orcs firing arrows and the heroes charging the ruined watch tower.

Map courtesy of Dyson Logos.

Fighting Orcs

There were two Orcs armed with bows and shortswords in the watch tower, and two more armed with spears and shields in the courtyard behind. It being nearly noon, the Orcs were on watch while the majority slept elsewhere in the ruins. Taking advantage of the Orcish nature, the heroes decided to try to quickly overwhelm the defenders. It proved a tougher proposition… but we learned a bit more about fighting in Mythras.

We learned about the value of a good plate armoured helm. The Orcs wear them and it made “head shots” less fruitful. Glar took one of the helms for himself at the end of the fight. We also discovered the rules for creatures suffering serious wounds – stunned from the pain and (usually) losing use of limbs, or losing consciousness if the wound strikes the chest or head.

If there’s one thing the chaps don’t like, it’s the Game Master getting the rules wrong. This happened when I stupidly allowed Orcs who has taken serious wounds to stay conscious with a passed Endurance roll against Glar’s and Aoth’s critical hits. The effect was to give the Orcs more longevity… but, in the end, the heroes did put the Orcs down. The outcome was one Orc killed, two Orcs unconscious with serious wounds, and the last Orc surrendered on his knees. Only one wound was sustained by the heroes in about 5 rounds of combat.

Aoth skewered an Orc from behind when Glar engaged him to the front, and so the chaps discovered the value of character facing and the Thief’s “back stab” ability.

The nicest thing was when Aoth tried the “compel surrender” special effect – succeeding, of course – and opening up the opportunity for the players to interrogate the poor Orc about the disposition of the defenders. This would simply not have happened if we had been playing Dungeons & Dragons: certainly the last Orc might have run, but they would have cut him down. I don’t think the chaps have fully realised it, but Mythras Classic Fantasy has already begun to alter their style of play.

All in All…

It was a good session. It was a bit combat-heavy, certainly, but given that my intention was to showcase the combat rules that isn’t surprising.

As Game Master, I enjoyed creating the Zombie Goblins and playing the Orcs. The fights were rewarding and intense, certainly less predictable and yet heroic in their outcomes. I think the players had a good time too, so it was a success.

One thing I haven’t mentioned is Luck Points. The players used these a lot… and they needed them, mitigating poor dice rolls and allowing their characters to be heroic. From my vantage behind the screen, this rule made the most difference to the players feeling in control in spite of fate’s fickle hand. More than once, a cool move was made all the more cool by a timely re-roll of the dice.

It was a good night. A good game. I can’t wait for next session!